E-commerce knowledge base
Research, reviews and practical breakdowns: what works in online stores, how to measure change and build a sales system.
Unit economics of an online store
Unit economics of an online store is a calculation of how much money the store earns or loses on one unit of the business: one order or one customer, after all variable costs. It answers a simple question: does the business become more profitable as sales…
Performance Max
Performance Max (PMax) is a Google Ads campaign type that shows ads across all of Google's inventory (Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail, Maps) from a single campaign. The system picks ads and channels from your assets and product feed itself, aiming…
App, PWA or website: what a store should choose
PWA (progressive web app) is a website that can be installed on a phone like an app and can work with a poor connection. A native app is a separate program from the App Store or Google Play. A responsive site is an ordinary site in a browser that adapts to…
Discounts and promotions without losing margin
A promotion is a temporary change of terms (a discount, a gift, free delivery, a bundle) meant to raise sales. The main question is not "how much did we sell" but "how much did we earn after the discount" and whether these people would have bought without it.
Messenger marketing: Viber, Telegram, SMS
Messenger marketing is a store's communication with shoppers through messengers (Viber, Telegram, WhatsApp, Messenger) and SMS: order messages, reminders, personal offers, support. The main condition is the person's consent to such messages.
Size selection and virtual try-on
A size guide is a table or explanation a customer uses to choose a size. A size finder is an interactive helper that recommends a size from height, weight or body measurements. Virtual try-on shows an item on the customer's photo or video, or on a model…
Visual and voice search
Visual search is search by image: a shopper photographs an item or uploads a picture, and the system finds similar products. Voice search is a query by voice instead of text. For a store this means a product has to be recognized both from a photo and from a…
Product description: how to write it
A product description is the text on the page that answers the questions a buyer can't settle from the photo: what it is made of, what size it is, who it is for, how to care for it, what is in the box. A good description helps people choose and avoid…
Marketplace
A marketplace is an online platform where many independent sellers sell goods, and the platform owner takes the orders and payment. Examples in Ukraine: Rozetka, Prom.
PIM system
A PIM system (Product Information Management) is a single place where a store keeps and prepares all its product information: descriptions, attributes, photos, translations. From there the data flows out to the site, marketplaces, price lists and printed…
Buy box
The buy box is the block on a product page where a marketplace shows one offer from one seller, with "Buy" and "Add to cart" buttons, when several sellers sell the same product. Whoever gets into the buy box receives most of the orders for that listing.
Social proof and reviews
Social proof is confirmation that other people choose a product or store: reviews, ratings, the number of buyers, customer photos. In an online store its most important form is customer reviews on the product page.